Common Book Vocabulary Advanced Organizer
As the Eastfield family embarks upon our exciting Common Book adventure, we are reminded that enhancement of vocabulary and comprehension proficiency are objectives across disciplines. Because vocabulary is the basis for understanding concepts, these terms and phrases were selected to advance comprehension of not only this text, but texts in general. Although you may be introducing these words to some and reviewing them for others, be mindful that vocabulary should be taught in context.
Some instructors will choose to engage students with only certain portions of “Life Is So Good” as opposed to reading the entire book, therefore to magnify exposure, you will notice some terms are repeated.
Ideas to use with Vocabulary Advanced Organizer include:
- Elicit prior knowledge on the topic/term - Ex.: Write/read sentence from the book
that includes the word; Brainstorm; Dialogue
- Give students a concrete purpose for reading - Ex. : “Read ___ to find out what ______ is.”
- Illustrate the word with concrete, visual, and verbal examples.
Engage students in follow-up activities designed to reinforce content of text and skill learned – writing, further reading, art projects, group mapping activities, concept cards, games, etc.
Recommended Books:
Beck, I.L. McKeown, M.G. & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction. New York: The Guilford Press
Stahl, S.A., & Kapinus, B. (2001). Word Power: What Every Educator Needs to Know about Teaching Vocabulary. Washington, D.C.: NEA
Words and phrases selected by Loretta Rodgers
Acknowledgments
- levee
- acknowledgments
- colleague
- revisions
- endeavor
- immense
- critique
- integrity
- unflagging
- perspective
- unsung
- collaborative
Chapter 1
- beckoned
- “quit-like”
- rafters
- reins
- burlap
- “banty chicks”
- partial
- boardwalk
- commotion
- pasture
- thrashing
- lynching
- gallows
- jeered
- gouges
- whinnying
- swaying
- buckboard
- muskrats
Chapter 2
- spinning wheel
- drop spindle
- abolished
- “leastwise”
- fortification
- ravine
- bedroll
- overseer
Chapter 3
- slab ends
- outhouse
- “prime hunting time”
- “papa wore out”
- crawfish
Chapter 4
- lantern
- drought
- holding pond
- the Klan
- gesticulating
- machete
- two bits
- trough
- mush
- hominy
Chapter 5
- homestead
- chitlins (chitterlings)
- philosophizing
- “take heed”
- burlap
- habeas corpus
Chapter 6
- degrading
- Jim Crow
- beckoned
- furrows
- butchering
Chapter 7
- anarchist
- magistrate
- archduke
- pondered
- scarlet fever
- burlap sack
- muttered
- embroidered
- coyotes
- stoked
- “full of myself”
Chapter 8
- Jackie Robinson
- scythe
- blacksmith
- “sandwiched around”
- “....put your X here”
Chapter 9
- “crowning military spectacle”
- stalwart
- on the outside of things
- bug hatch
- encampment
- vagrancy
- riled up
- “colored car”
- train porter
Chapter 10
- “whistle stop”
- embankment
- joshing
- lurched
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
- Negro
- peddler
- wares
- adobe
- gourds
- haciendas
Chapter 13
- prohibition
- “put me off”
- homespun
- barge
- pennant race
Chapter 14
- precision
- rendering
- puttered around
- rucksack
- hobo
- squatter
- gally
- jambalaya
- roustabout
Chapter 15
- John Scopes
- Monkey Trials
- “spruce up”
- prairie
- social promotion
- harbor
- pier
- peppered
Chapter 16
- scavenge
- scuttlebutt
- Mojave Desert
- Appaloosa
Chapter 17
- Hooversville
- economic depression of 1930
- newsreel
- corral
- Buckskin Horse
- astride
Chapter 18
- apprehended
- pasteurize
- gauges
- pallet
- hemp rope
Chapter 19
- confrontation
- pride
- cavalcade
Chapter 20
- pre-emptive
- Watergate
- impeachment
- hypocrisy
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
- Bighorn wilderness
- “what goes around, comes around”
- honorary degree
- “Judge me not for the deeds that I have done, but for the life that I’ve lived”
